The family and I just got back from a wonderful beach vacation — one that words could never do justice. So I decided to break it down with numbers instead. Well, numbers and some of my favorite images from our week away. To check it out, please head over to my blog at Babble by clicking HERE.

There’s this guy who’s a very prominent blogger and has tons of followers and most of the blogging community, it seems, isn’t that fond of him. The truth of the matter is that he’s not my favorite person in the world, but I’ve also never felt real strong about him one way or the other. Especially compared to the passionate ire he seems to draw out of other bloggers.

Anyway, he recently went on a day hike and passed out and had to be rescued by a helicopter and issued a self-penned press release about it that romanticized (what I would consider to be) remarkable ineptitude. I decided to throw in my two cents over at Babble, so if you care to read, click HERE.

Recently comedienne, actress and author Ali Wentworth vlogged that after much deliberation, she’d finally decided to get her eyes done. Ali is part of the BabbleVoices crew and it didn’t take long after her post for an incredible thread to develop. And in that thread, many beautiful and bright minds that I respect and admire chimed in with their take — each as articulate as it was respectful.

Anyway, I’ve have feelings on the whole plastic surgery deal, so earlier today, I decided to post them over on BabbleVoices. If you’d like to read it, click HERE.

One of my favorite things to do is grill out. If you don’t believe me, just look at my phone sometime — I have a preposterous number of grilled-food pictures on it. A good half of them end up on Facebook because I’m a huge dork. But don’t worry. I’m totally in therapy for it, so hopefully, I’ll come out cool on the other side.

In the meantime, I’m afraid my inner dork has come out yet again (WOW that sounded bad) over at Babble a la a tribute to how much my family and I love the grill. It’s the summer of grill marks, folks. And if that’s wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

So, Briggs had his surgery and he’s totally good. With the exception that he’s confined to a crate for eight weeks and will need quite a bit of care during that time. He’s also wearing the cone of shame. And he’s not allowed off of his leash even when he’s using the bathroom. And he’s on a bunch of medicine. While it’s gone as well as it could to this point, and while I’m thankful that I’ve gotten this chance to be able to love on him so much, one thing’s for sure:

Boy are we ever the wrong family to have a dog in such a constant state of need.

So there I was, minding my own business, slowly but surely becoming “that guy” who bounced from one dysfunctional six-month relationship to the next, when I re-met a girl I’d gone to high school with. But not just any girl–a special girl whom I’d always found extremely attractive in so many different ways. I’m speaking, of course, of Caroline.

No problem, right? I mean, “that guy” has been there before, so just dust off a bit of charm and see what happens, right?

I posted a little slideshow over at Babble yesterday that breaks down the match up between Dogs and Infants, as it’s recently occurred to me that they’re more alike than you might imagine. It’s a silly little piece that compares and contrasts the two in nine different categories, as well as opining on which has the “advantage” in any given category.

It’s funny — the triplets hardly even seemed to notice Briggs. But Luke? He’s all about my faithful hound. I suspect that’s because we’re always so full-steam-ahead dealing with our domestic chaos that Luke is often left to his own devices. And that’s a boat Briggs has found himself in a time or two, as well. All of this to say that I think that Briggs and Luke are developing a bond, and it’s been awfully fun to watch.

So, yeah, I guess that kinda how I stumbled upon this topic, which, you should know, is heavy on Luke pictures. Click HERE to read over at BabbleVoices.

I put something up on Babble today that kinda tickled me, primarily because it’s one of those JCO / Caroline banter deals that’s akin to watching a really good tennis rally. Check it out if you have time, but before / as you do, ponder the following riddle:

If Caroline really wants my help, then why does she put so many qualifications on it?

The other day, I posted a request on FB to hear from those of you who had ever experienced a profane moment courtesy of your own child. The ensuing thread was quite an enjoyable one for two reasons. First, it’s nice to know we’re not the only ones. And second, the stories were hysterical. I wish I could have used every single one of them. If you’d like to check out the ones I did use, click HERE to get to my BabbleVoices blog, JCO Multiplied.

And a huge thank you to everyone who shared a story.

Oh, and one more thing. I hope you’ll swing by this site on Monday (especially you, Ktown peeps) because I’ll have something that I think might be fun for your whole family.